# Books on color season analysis: which do you find helpful?



## LadyDragonFire (Nov 23, 2010)

I was just on Amazon.com reading some customer reviews of books on color analysis.

Specifically, I was reading the reviews on Lora Alexander's _Color Revival: Understanding the 12 Season Color Analysis System_, _Reinvent Yourself With Color Me Beautiful: 4 Seasons of Makeup, Color and Style_ and David Zyla's book _The Color of Style._

I found it really interesting and also sort of bizarre Lora Alexander's book and the Color Me Beautiful book seemed to be receiving a lot of negative reviews (Especially CMB.)

A few people like Lora Alexander's book but a number of people said they hated the way it was printed. Almost everyone was having a field day bashing CMB.

Weirdly though almost no one had anything bad to say about David Zyla's book. That book was getting praised like crazy!

  The thing I find very strange about this is that in Lora Alexander's and the CMB book, the steps for finding your color season are laid out in a very simple and straightforward way. I know not everyone fits the true seasons, which is pretty much what CMB focusses on, but still, I think they give pretty good info on how to tell if you're warm or cool, and I seriously think yo can still figure out what season blend you are based on the color palettes and info they provide, although Lora Alexander's book focusses on that more.I've read all three of these books and personally I find the CMB and _Color Revival_ books to be the least confusing of the three.

Honestly, if you don't know what color season you are at all I don't think you can figure it out using David Zyla's book. One person who wrote a review on it claimed they were able to figure out their true colors in one hour. I think that person is either lying, or they already actually knew their colors or they are some kind of genius. I have read the book and I seriously still can't tell exactly what version of red my ears turn when I'm cold or exactly what my dramatic colors are supposed to be let alone what season I am. I seriously just feel like I want to see David Zyla in person and ask him what season and archetype I am.

  The archetypes are seriously impossible to figure out, really!

  Maybe this was the intention of the book though, so he can create more business for himself?? LOL!

So yeah..it just seemed kind of funny to me that people criticized the easy ways to find your season so harshly, but the book which is complicated like a jigsaw puzzle gets showered with praise. What's up with that? lol!

What are everyone's opinions on these books, and do you have any other favorite books on this subject you would like to share?  /emoticons/[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" />


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## magosienne (Nov 26, 2010)

I never read these books, to be honest i'm pretty much waterproof (lol) to any form of scientific reasoning behind fashion. I follow my instincts.

But yes i find it strange too that a confusing book would get lots of praise. If i haven't learned anything from it, i would give it thumbs down, not up. Have you found reviews written by masochists ?


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## LadyDragonFire (Nov 27, 2010)

LOL

I don't dislike color analysis per se, although it _is_ a little complicated, lol.

I think the only thing I actually _really_ dislike about the concept of the "color seasons" and season analysis is the concept of how there are supposed to be personality traits that correspond to your "color type."

  I have dark hair and dark hazel eyes and my undertone is warm so supposedly I'm an "autumn."

I truly hate the autumn stereotype, and how they are supposed to be the most "assertive" people.

When I read the autumn archetypes in David Zyla's book it sort of annoyed me. Why does a woman have to be bossy and overbearing just because she is a brunette with a golden undertone?

  What is even worse is when certain people actually really believe in these stereotypes and practically swear by them though. If it's just taken lightly that's fine, but when people are actually serious about this it's terrible.

  My boss in my last job apparently hired me because I'm a brunette with brown eyes. (I found this out later after I was hired.) He constantly hounded me to be "more assertive" and when I guess I wasn't assertive enough for him he actually got really angry and yelled at me and threatened me. Finally he fired me and said, "I told you I was going to fire you if you weren't more assertive."

  By the way, I was the front desk receptionist and my job was to greet people and answer phones. Since when are you not supposed to greet people with a smile??

  Anyway, that's my rant for today lol. Sorry, I know that's a little OT. LOL


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